


Aftermath of the Underworld

by LoganExeHasStoppedWorking



Series: Newsies Lore Olympus AU [4]
Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic), Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Fusion, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Backstory, Crushes, Explanations, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Mentioned Finch, Minor David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, One Shot, Talking, Trans Jack Kelly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28329810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoganExeHasStoppedWorking/pseuds/LoganExeHasStoppedWorking
Summary: Jack is still trying to comprehend his thoughts from the previous night, and this unexpected guest isn’t helping too much.
Relationships: Crutchie & Jack Kelly, Crutchie/Finch (Newsies), Jack Kelly & Katherine Plumber Pulitzer, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Newsies Lore Olympus AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972918
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	Aftermath of the Underworld

**Author's Note:**

> Another Lore Olympus one-shot because I wanted to introduce Crutchie already!
> 
> Nothing much to say here really except sorry if it’s a bit out of character. I’m trying to combine the personality traits of both characters, so it might be a bit weird. I’m still trying to find a balance between the two. 
> 
> I hope y’all enjoy!

“I was so worried about you!”

The goddess pulled the other along and sat him on the couch. She pushed the hair out of his face and looked him over like a mother worried for her child. 

The god of spring pushed her hands away. “Kath, I’m fine! You really don’t gotta worry about anything,” Jack said. 

Katherine stood in front and crossed her arms. She sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just worry because… well, you spent a whole night in the Underworld  _ with  _ the king. And you know how those big three can be.” She sat next to him. “They’ll screw anything with a heartbeat.”

Jack tried to keep himself from smiling. 

Now that he actually knew more about him, it was just really funny how others seemed to perceive David. He wasn’t as intimidating or monstrous as people made him out to be. On the contrary, he was actually a huge dork. The way he always seemed nervous, the stuttering… it was endearing.

He felt Katherine put a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see she still had a look of concern on her face. 

“He didn’t touch you, did he?”

“No,” Jack lied. 

She sat next to him. “Did he find out about… you know?”

Jack pulled the oversized jacket he was wearing over his chest. “No,” he said, telling the truth this time. 

She let out an exasperated sigh of relief. “Good. We’re only supposed to keep that between us and your mom.” She wrapped her arm around him. “I’m just glad you’re feeling safe. I don’t know what I would’ve done if anything happened to you.”

“I can handle myself, ya know. I ain’t some naive little kid,” Jack said, rolling his eyes. 

“Well, Medda still put me in charge of you, you know,” Katherine responded. “If David did anything to you, she would’ve had my head.” She seemed to notice the jacket Jack was wearing and leaned back to get a better look. “Hey, where’d you get this?”

“Oh, Davey gave it to me,” he said simply. 

She blinked. “The king of the underworld… just gave you one of his jackets?” She asked slowly, raising an eyebrow. 

Jack shrugged, holding it tighter. “He didn’t need it! He said he had a bunch more like it.” He loosened his grip lightly. “You think I should give it back?”

“You don’t have to,” Katherine said. “You’re probably right. He’s got plenty more. It just confuses me a bit. Why would he give you one of his jackets?”

“Well, it was cold and… he just happened to have one laying around...”

Katherine chuckled. “That makes sense.” She stood up again. “Anyway, let’s get this—” She picked a strand of his long hair. “—taken care of. Then, you can get cleaned up while I make us some tea. Okay?”

Jack smiled and nodded. “Okay. This hair’s gettin’ to be too heavy anyway.”

They made their way to the kitchen. Jack sat down on a chair while Katherine grabbed one of her knives. She gathered up the long, messy trail of black hair and piled it up in one small area.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.”

She grabbed Jack’s hair and sliced right through it, trying to get it as short as she could. “There! All done!”

The other god ran a hand through his now short hair. “That feels a lot better. Thanks. And I’ll… clean this up,” he said, staring down at the giant pile of hair. 

Katherine waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about it. I got this. You just go clean up.”

He nodded and turned his head to his room. 

He took a shower and changed into a baggy t-shirt and shorts. He took one last look at David’s jacket before folding it and hanging it up in his closet. 

When he returned to the living room, he found his roommate with two cups of tea watching television. 

He sat next to her and took one of the cups. 

“Hey, I’ve been thinking,” Katherine said. 

“A dangerous pastime.” Jack smirked. 

She laughed and punched his arm playfully. “Like I said, I’ve been thinking and realized that you don’t have a phone—”

“Ya don’t gotta make fun of me,” he interrupted. “Ma, doesn’t want me having one.”

“I know, but if you did have one, you could message me when something like last night happens. So…” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, cracked phone. “I figured you can have my old one.”

Jack set his cup down and took the old, beat up phone in his hands. “You’re really giving this to me?”

“I know, I know,” she said, “it’s an older model and it’s cracked, but—”

He hugged her. “Thank you,” he said with a genuine smile. “It’s perfect.”

She hugged back.

Man, Jack could never imagine owning anything like this. His mom wouldn’t even let him go to a separate room by himself, so having something with this much freedom was new to him. 

Katherine pulled away and smiled. “So, what you’re going to want to do is turn in on and put your email in there. Choose a pin and—”

The doorbell rang. 

The two looked at each other quizzically. 

“I wasn’t expecting anyone… You?”

Jack gave her a look. “Kath, hardly know anyone here. You really think I’m expecting someone?”

She flicked his head. “I’ll get it.”

-

“Alright… you got this…”

A god with a magenta colored hue stood at the door. Nerves shot through his body. He adjusted his crutch and cleared his throat. 

“Just apologize,” he told himself. “Self improvement starts here. You can do this Crutchie…”

He rang the doorbell again. 

Within seconds, the goddess of hunting stood at the doorway. 

“H- uh, hello, Katherine,” he stuttered. 

“Oh, it’s just you,” she said and put her hands on her hips. “What the fuck do you want Charlie?”

The god cleared his throat. “Jack lives here, right?”

“Kath, who is it?” Another voice called from inside the house. Without waiting for an answer, a young god appeared behind her. When he saw him he seemed to immediately recognize him. “You! I know you!”

Charlie swallowed. “Heh... yeah, it’s me… If I could just come in and explain myself—”

“Men are forbidden from entering this house,” Katherine interjected with a serious expression on her face.

Charlie blinked. He tilted his head. “But… he lives here…” He pointed at Jack.

Katherine glanced back at him then at Charlie. “He’s the exception since he’s a part of the Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood.”

“Isn’t that—”

“No  _ other _ men. That’s final.”

“I brought apology donuts though,” Charlie said, giving his best puppy-dog eyes.

The other two gods exchanged a look. After a moment of silence, Katherine stepped out of the way. “Fine, get in here.”

It wasn’t long before the three of them were seated on the couch with Katherine keeping herself and Jack at a distance from the other.

“Alright, let’s have it,” Jack said. “You said you wanted to explain yourself, so let’s get to it before I make Kathy here kick your ass out.”

Katherine pulled a knife from seemingly nowhere to demonstrate.

Charlie set his box of donuts on the coffee table and sighed. “Alright, alright! Jeez, give me a minute to settle in,” he said. He set his crutch next to him. 

“Look Charlie... I just wanna know why you’d do that to me,” Jack said. “It was a shitty thing and really embarrassin’ too.” He gave him a look that made his heart grow heavy. 

The god silently cursed his sense of empathy. He sighed. “Let me just start off by saying that I’m sorry…  _ Really _ sorry… I shouldn’t have put you at risk like that. I don’t wanna hurt anyone, but I was stuck between a rock and a hard place-”

“Wait, so I didn’t do anything to upset you?” Jack asked leaning closer.

Charlie smiled. “Is that what you thought? No, no, of course not. My father is just furious with you. That’s all it is.”

Katherine and Jack stared at him.

“Which one?” Katherine asked slowly.

“Elmer.”

Jack let out a breath. “Shit,” he said, “you scared the crap outta me. I thought it was the war god. Still not a good thing, but better than the other one.”

“Jack’s literally only been in the city for like two seconds!” Katherine explained. “How the hell did he manage to invoke the wrath of the god of beauty?”

Charlie stared from the god of spring to the goddess of hunting. 

_ Wait… _ he thought.  _ He doesn’t know what David said about him? _

He smiled.

_ Interesting. _

“Oh… you know, he just feels threatened,” Charlie lied. “You’re a very handsome young god. For someone who’s lived in the mortal realm his whole life, that can be a bit intimidating, ya know?”

Okay, so maybe that was only half a lie. 

He had to admit that the god of spring  _ did _ have looks. No wonder his father was a bit jealous. He’d probably be too. 

“Anyway,” he continued, “we just thought a night in the underworld would shake you up a bit. Which… I guess looking back on now coulda been pretty dangerous…” He laughed nervously. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

Katherine furrowed her eyebrows and looked at him. “I don’t get it though. This doesn’t seem like you at all. You’re not some mindless thug who does what he’s told, so what’s your dad got on you?” She seemed to get more sincere near the end. 

“That’s…” Charlie hesitated. “That’s a story for another time…” 

“Just give us the gist of it,” Jack said. 

“Uh, okay. There was this mortal boy named Finch that I may or may not have fallen in love with and… well, long story short, he hurt me and I went to my father. He said he’d take care of him for me, but now I don’t know where he is. Pa knows where he is, but he won’t tell me. And, that’s it, I think.” Charlie ended it with a smile. 

“So he’s using some mortal boy as leverage against you?” Katherine asked. 

“I guess you could say that,” Charlie said. “There's a bit more to it than that, but I’ll tell yous later. It’s a long story.”

Katherine gave him a look. “I don’t know if I believe you or not.”

Charlie gave her an offended look. “Uh, excuse me? But I saved his life, thank you very much. It’s all true.”

“I don’t know,” Katherine said. “Your folks do have a history of exaggerating things a bit.”

Charlie gasped dramatically. “I would never! Only once— twice— okay, maybe only a few times!”

The two went back and forth for a while about whether the god of love was being genuine or not. 

Jack moved to the other side of the couch to avoid the chaos. He sighed and leaned back. He was about to say something when a thought popped into his head. 

_ Well, as long as they’re busy… _

He reached into his pocket and found the small card David had given to him. He turned it over and, as expected, found his phone number on the back. 

He glanced over to see Katherine and Charlie still going back and forth. 

He opened his phone and typed a quick message. Just as he hit send, he felt someone sit next to him. 

“Who are you texting?”

Out of instinct, he held the phone close to his chest. “Gah! No one!”

The taller god examined his face. He leaned closer. 

Jack leaned back. “What are you doing?”

Charlie sat back up. “Oh, nothin’. Just curious. Sorry.”

Jack sighed. “Whatever. Look, did you come to apologize or what? Cause Dave’s a pretty busy guy, and he didn’t need—”

“There it is! You’re more worried about the good ol’ king of the underworld than yourself, aren’t ya?”

“No, I’m not!”

Charlie gasped. “You have a crush on David, don’t you?”

“What?” He scoffed. “No, I don’t! That’d be stupid.”

“It’s kinda obvious you do.”

He noticed Katherine watching. She gave him a serious look. “Do you?”

“I don’t!”

“You do,” Charlie insisted. “As a love god, I think I can tell—”

“If this is your idea of an apology, then get the fuck out!” Jack finally snapped. 

There was a beat of silence. 

Charlie had recoiled back at the sound of Jack’s voice. He was almost scared of him… almost. 

The two stared at each other for a moment before the other god sighed and broke eye contact. 

“I’m sorry… I’m really sorry about everything… Guess I can’t even apologize right, huh?”

Jack took in a deep breath and looked down. 

“Look, I know it may not seem like it, but I am,” Charlie continued. “I just need ya to know that it’s been real hard lately with Finch and… yeah. I’m sorry.”

Jack put a hand on the taller god’s shoulder. “It’s fine,” Jack said. “Sorry for yellin’.”

“Hey, I deserved it,” Charlie said. “I’ve been told I can be a pain in the ass sometimes.”

Jack chuckled. “Yeah, me too.”

They awkwardly looked away for a moment. 

Charlie broke the silence. “So, can I ask how he was?”

“Hm?”

“David. How was he?”

Jack shrugged. “Ain’t much to tell.”

“You’re stingy with details, ain’t ya?”

“He gave him one of his jackets,” Katherine finally said. 

Charlie looked from Katherine to Jack. “Can I see it?”

-

“Oh my gods!”

Charlie put the jacket on. It was a bit big on him, but not as much as it was on Jack. 

“This is a quality jacket, ya know?” Charlie said, looking it over. “This is the kinda shit them rich Olympians have!”

“Mm-hm,” Jack said, staring down at his phone. 

He stared down at it. “You do realize this has a quality silk interior and— shit! The buttons are made of diamonds!”

“Mm-hm.”

Charlie smirked. “Can I have it?”

“NO, IT’S MINE!”

Charlie and Katherine both stared at him. 

Jack ran a hand through his hair and laughed nervously. “Heh… I mean, no… no, you can’t have it.”

“Why so defensive?” Charlie asked. 

“Well, one, that’s an expensive suit. And two, it’s one of the only modern things I have. So, you can’t have it. It’s mine.”

Charlie pondered that for a moment. “The only modern thing, you say?”

“Oh gods,” Katherine sighed, knowing exactly where this was going. 

“Kathy, get dressed. We’re going shopping!” Charlie grinned. 

Katherine rolled her eyes but smiled. “Fine, but don’t call me that again.” She turned to Jack. “Oh, and my brother will most likely be picking us up afterwards. He’s coming over for dinner tonight, so you’ll finally get to meet him.”

“Okay, cool.” Jack gave a small smile. 

Charlie took off the jacket and laid it on Jack’s bed. “I’ll wait outside for you guys.”

Jack smiled and let the two leave his room before immediately checking his phone again. 

Still no reply. 

_ Why hasn’t he answered yet? _

Jack grabbed the jacket and dragged it into his lap. He knew it hadn’t been  _ that  _ long since he texted him, but it had been a good while already. 

Excuses flossed his mind as to an explanation. 

_ Maybe I typed in a wrong number. Was he just being nice or humoring me in some way? Maybe he just hasn’t checked his phone yet.  _

Jack subconsciously used one hand to grab one of the sleeves and gently set it over his shoulder. 

_ Why would I even care anyway? He’s just some stupid god with a cute face.  _

He pulled the sleeve closer and set his phone down to grab the other sleeve. He wrapped it around himself, making it feel like an embrace. 

_ He’s such a nerd.  _

“What are you doing?”

Jack three the jacket across the room. “Nothing!”

Charlie stood in the doorway with a giant smirk on his face. “Doesn’t look that way to me. Ya know, somethin’ tells me you didn’t have such a bad time with the king of the underworld, huh?”

Jack opened his mouth to say something, but Charlie interrupted. 

“Yes, yes, I know. ‘It’s nothing.’” He did air quotes. “But, it wasn’t a  _ terrible  _ time, was it?”

“I dunno. It’s stupid.”

“What? Come on, tell me. I won’t tell anyone. Promise.”

Jack gave a sigh and shrugged. “Would it be weird if said he made me feel important?”

Charlie sat next to him on the bed. “You don’t feel important?”

“I mean… I don’t know. He made me feel like I wasn’t some little kid that needs to be watched over. And the fact that he don’t know I used to be...” He grunted. “Ugh, see told ya! It’s just stupid! He’s stupid! Everything is stupid!”

“Well yeah, that’s just how things are,” Charlie said. “Some people just make us feel weird. It’s not stupid.” He shook his head. “For me, it was Finch… Maybe it’s just David for you.”

Jack ran a hand through his hair. “I mean… maybe. I can’t though. Ma wants me to never get married. Ya know? Like Kath and those other maiden goddesses.”

“Is that what you want?”

He opened his mouth to answer but closed it again. Gods, he hated thinking about shit like that. Medda already had a path cleared out for him. He didn’t want to mess it up. 

He let out a breath and got up to get David’s jacket.

Without any more words between the two, Jack hung it up and stored the jacket in the back of his closet where he couldn’t see it. 

He turned to the other god, who was sitting in his bed, quietly staring down at his lap with a hard to read expression. 

“Hey, Charlie,” Jack said, slightly below his normal speaking volume. 

Charlie looked up. 

“I, uh… I forgive ya. No hard feelin’s.”

Charlie smiled. “Thanks. And just know that if you need anything, I’m here for ya.”

Jack sat next to him. He took his phone out and handed it to the other. “Might be easier to contact ya if I had your number.”

Charlie took the phone and scrolled to put his number in, but his finger stopped when he saw the name of one of the only two contacts already there. 

There was Katherine, of course. And a little someone there who just happened to be named David. 

A small smile appeared on his face. 

_ You little bastard.  _

Charlie typed in his information and Handed the phone back. 

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Did you put yourself in as ‘Crutchie’?”

“Yup! That’s what most people call me since I’m the only god who… well, needs a crutch.”

“Alright then,” Jack said. “Crutchie it is.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you y’all enjoyed this! I’m gonna write Crutchie and Finch’s story as a separate one shot cuz it’s kinda long, so that should be fun!
> 
> Take it easy guys, gals, and non-binary pals! Thanks for reading!


End file.
